Law & Order: Menendez brothers to be focus of new true crime anthology

It may have happened way back in 1989 but it's still hard to forget the gruesome murder of Jose and Kitty Menendez by their sons. The siblings Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Now, executive producer Dick Wolf wants to relive the story on NBC's new TV show Law & Order: True Crime. The show will recreate the murder, and trial of Lyle and Erik — 21 and 18, who said they committed the crime in reaction to their father's constant and extreme abuse.

"We've been talking with Dick about how to create an event series coming out of the Law & Order ripped-from-the-headlines brand," NBC entertainment president Jennifer Salke told Deadline. "This case captured the public's attention like nothing before it as it examined taboo issues such as patricide and matricide in cultural and societal surroundings of both the murders and trials when people were not only obsessed with the case but examining how and why these brothers committed these heinous crimes."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the whole crime and subsequent legal drama will be spread across eight episodes of the show.

"Bob (Greenblatt), Jen and I have been focused the natural evolution of the Law & Order brand for the last several years and are excited to extend the franchise with a scripted limited anthology series that focuses on a high-profile trial," Wolf said of the new venture. "There is no shortage of compelling real-life criminal cases, and the Menendez trial was more scintillating than most crime fiction."

It's no surprise that NBC is seeing a winner in the show since true crime has started gaining more fans after the success of American Crime Story on FX. No release date has been announced for the new show as of now.